noisy lifters after an oil change

[jjhaw77]

I bought an 85 CJ7 with the 4.0L that had been sitting for 6 years. Engine was not seized. The engine had good oil pressure and lifters were not noisy. After changing the oil the lifters are now noisy and the noise does not stay in the same area of the engine. I have used 5w30, 10w30 in an attempt to find a solution. I have also inspected and replaced the main and rod bearings and also has a new oil pump. With a mechanical gauge, I have 60-70 psi of oil pressure cold at idle and once at operating temp, oil pressure is roughly 10 paid at idle. Any thoughts?

 

[prariepunk]

Was the engine a swap? CJs never came with the 4.0 (242 ci), they came with the 4.2 (258 ci) in the 80's. I'm not sure parts are interchangeable.

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

Add a quart of ATF to the oil and see if it quiets down.

 

[PoliceMonkey161]

Your oil pressure readings are within limits. The 4.2L (258) and 4.0L (242) where both infamous for noisey valve trains. Are sure you have the 4.0L or maybe a 4.2L with a 4.0 head swap? The head swap can leave you with a noisey valve train because most guys dont measure the push rod clearance. If it where me, I would remove the valve cover, get a set of oil defector clips for the rockers and inspect my valve train. It's a time consuming job, but will tell you if the lifters are pumping up correctly and you can check for rod lenght or damage.

 

[jjhaw77]

The engine is the original 4.2L 258. I have added some atf to the oil and it does help. What is the next direction? New cam and lifters?

 

[jjhaw77]

I have had the valve cover off and inspected the overhead. None of the valve lashes were excessively loose.

 

[jjhaw77]

One thing I did notice when I replaced the oil pump, the original mounting gasket had two holes in the top. I did also notice a drilling in the block near the oil pump mounting area. What is that for?

 

[dc_jeep]

One thing I did notice when I replaced the oil pump, the original mounting gasket had two holes in the top. I did also notice a drilling in the block near the oil pump mounting area. What is that for?

The drill on top of the block is the crankshaft position sensor. It drives the oil pump and it determines what cylinder fires when/timing.

 

[69jeepcj]

a 85 258 will not have a cps, 85 is still non computer. As stated above, they are known for noisy valve train, tick tick tick. I think I have only owned one cj out of many many cj,s that didn't tick, I personally think you are fine but you may want to do what policeMonkey said just to make sure. Oh, and if it is the original 258, it is a 4.2

 

[JPNinPA]

Does the noise go away after warm up?

 

[jjhaw77]

Jpninpa, the ticking gets worse when the engine and oil are at operating temp. I was going to try using an sae 30w oil and see what happens. I have no idea what the original owner had been using for oil.

 

[brownmule]

Same thing happened to me! I use Royal purple and an oil change place. Ran errands (19mi). Turned it on the next day and it started clicking for approximately 1 min.

 

[Jeeprancher]

Updates ?

 

[Dragon5126]

It sounds to me that crud has broke loose and plugged your hydraulic lifters. My first thought was a bad oil filter, but you stated more than one oil change. I'd replace the lifters, its a pita but it sounds necessary at this point, or you will be chasing a problem for quite a while. If these were solid lifters, you would have to adjust the rockers to get rid of the noise, that's almost half way to replacing hydraulics, if you pick up one of those nifty lifter pullers that allow you to pull them through the push rod holes... eventually the old ones will collapse if you dont do something and that can cause bent pushrods in some instances. Been there done that in my 76 Cherokee S.